# The NFL Report: Aaron Donald is A DNP for Week 1 + Devin McCourty Joins the Show

An episode of [NFL: The Insiders](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1543090622), 9 Sep 2026, 24 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/e922fbd8-b608-413a-ac83-b06d015154b4/d07671c4-04f7-4044-ba75-b4c0000983f1/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=3e412703-0644-468e-9001-ae390070e4db

On the rundown for today’s The NFL Report Podcast: -Sean McVay's decision not to play Aaron Donald in Australia -Baker Mayfield's surprising new contract in Tampa Bay -Kyle Shanahan time traveling? -Devin McCourty previews Patriots Seahawks -Nick Shook joins to talk the 2026 QB Index -Jerry Jones and the Cowboys freeing up cap space .. for what? -Are Breece Hall and Jeremiyah Love RB1s in Week 1? The NFL Report is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Media. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: You can still call it a comeback, but it's going
[0:04] Speaker 1: to have to wait a week. Coming up, why AD
[0:06] Speaker 1: will be a DNP in Australia week one for the Rams.
[0:11] Speaker 2: I thought Baker wasn't going to negotiate.
[0:15] Speaker 1: We'll tell you why the time is now for the
[0:17] Speaker 1: Buccaneers to fire the cash cannons for their quarterback. Plus,
[0:22] Speaker 1: we've got a game tomorrow.
[0:24] Speaker 2: We do. Devin McCourty joins us with an opening night preview.
[0:28] Speaker 2: It is next. The NFL report. We are one night
[0:36] Speaker 2: away now from the NFL 107th season.
[0:40] Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL report brought to you by Nationwide.
[0:43] Speaker 2: Coming up, Devin McCourty will be here. We'll tell you
[0:45] Speaker 2: who is in and who is out in the opener.
[0:48] Speaker 1: First, though, what is news to me? Let's get to
[0:50] Speaker 1: our latest headlines here and we'll begin with who's not
[0:54] Speaker 1: going to Australia. Aaron Donald not going to Australia. He's
[1:00] Speaker 1: not going to make the trip. Sean McVay made that
[1:02] Speaker 1: announcement today. Two weeks after coming out of retirement, Donald
[1:06] Speaker 1: is not yet ready to play a football game.
[1:10] Speaker 3: He's doing a great job. You know, I think he'll
[1:12] Speaker 3: be ready to go sooner rather than later, but we're
[1:15] Speaker 3: making a decision that we think is best for him
[1:17] Speaker 3: and for our team. And I think what's cool is
[1:19] Speaker 3: you have such confidence in the group that we do
[1:21] Speaker 3: have with Kobe, with Fisk, with Puna Ford. With Tyler Davis,
[1:25] Speaker 3: you know, Ty Hamilton has done a really good job.
[1:27] Speaker 3: And so, you know, he's going to be a big part.
[1:30] Speaker 3: You know, Aaron will be, you know, it'll add value
[1:32] Speaker 3: when he's ready to go. But, you know, being two
[1:34] Speaker 3: years off retirement, he's attacked this the right way. But
[1:38] Speaker 3: it would have been a really quick turnaround. And so
[1:39] Speaker 3: we feel like he can manage, you know, being able
[1:42] Speaker 3: to get himself ready to go. And he won't make
[1:45] Speaker 3: the trip. And he'll be able to take good care
[1:46] Speaker 3: of himself in terms of getting himself ready to go
[1:48] Speaker 3: whenever that time comes.
[1:51] Speaker 2: Look who's here, everybody. The great Nick Schuch. He's here.
[1:54] Speaker 2: Welcome back to the team, buddy. So, no, Aaron Donald.
[1:58] Speaker 1: I don't think it's that much of a surprise, although
[2:00] Speaker 1: the 49ers have been saying for weeks now they thought
[2:03] Speaker 1: he was going to play since this story broke months ago.
[2:06] Speaker 4: Yeah, because they have to prepare that way as they
[2:08] Speaker 4: go into week one. But, honestly, it's not that big
[2:10] Speaker 4: of a deal because you have the other half of
[2:12] Speaker 4: the former Florida State duo, which was Jared Verst and
[2:14] Speaker 4: Braden Fiske. You've still got Braden Fiske there. They have
[2:16] Speaker 4: plenty of depth on the defensive line. It's not going
[2:18] Speaker 4: to be much of an issue, and it's not much
[2:20] Speaker 4: of a surprise given that Aaron Donald, Didn't get that
[2:22] Speaker 4: much of a ramp-up period going into this season, so
[2:25] Speaker 4: it's better to play it safe. Let him get ready
[2:27] Speaker 4: at his pace.
[2:28] Speaker 1: So the next chance for him to get back on
[2:30] Speaker 1: the field would be week two. The Rams, they come back.
[2:33] Speaker 2: From Australia on Friday. Kyle Shanahan's time machine coming up
[2:35] Speaker 2: in a second. They'll have a extra weekend off, and
[2:39] Speaker 2: then week two they play on Monday.
[2:41] Speaker 1: Night at home against the Giants. All right, let's get
[2:44] Speaker 1: to who's playing and who isn't playing for the 49ers.
[2:47] Speaker 1: Nick Bosa is going to.
[2:49] Speaker 2: Play in the game.
[2:49] Speaker 1: That, according to Niners coordinator Raheem Morris, Bosa was a
[2:53] Speaker 1: full participant in practice this summer for the first time
[2:57] Speaker 1: only six days ago. His torn ACL was week three
[3:02] Speaker 1: back in 2025. Bosa and George Kittle are both maybe
[3:07] Speaker 1: kind of sort.
[3:07] Speaker 2: Of expected to play.
[3:09] Speaker 1: Clay Kubiak, the offensive coordinator, says Kittle looks good for
[3:13] Speaker 1: the season opener against the Rams. He's coming back from
[3:15] Speaker 1: an Achilles injury. It happened at the playoffs in January.
[3:18] Speaker 1: Both were limited participants.
[3:21] Speaker 2: What is today?
[3:22] Speaker 1: Today's Tuesday. Both were limited participants Wednesday. in practice because
[3:30] Speaker 1: it's Wednesday in Australia.
[3:32] Speaker 2: That makes sense, right? That makes sense?
[3:34] Speaker 1: Okay, if it doesn't make sense, don't worry about it
[3:37] Speaker 1: because it doesn't make sense to Kyle Shanahan. This is
[3:40] Speaker 1: probably the best thing you missed all weekend when you
[3:43] Speaker 1: were watching college football.
[3:45] Speaker 5: When I look at my clock and it says the
[3:47] Speaker 5: time and then I try to see my family's time
[3:49] Speaker 5: and it says the time but it says yesterday. I
[3:51] Speaker 5: don't even get how that's possible. So I feel like
[3:53] Speaker 5: I'm in the future. And then also when we play
[3:55] Speaker 5: on our Friday, which I think is a Thursday in
[3:57] Speaker 5: the U.S., we're such creatures of habit. So I call
[3:59] Speaker 5: today Tuesday. No, wait, sorry, I call today Wednesday, which
[4:03] Speaker 5: is the first day we put in a game plan.
[4:05] Speaker 5: But I think it's Monday. However, though, it's Sunday in
[4:07] Speaker 5: the present. So, like, I'm going to mess that up
[4:10] Speaker 5: all week if you guys ask me. But today is
[4:12] Speaker 5: just our first day of the game plan, which is
[4:13] Speaker 5: a Wednesday. We'll put in some on a Thursday. Friday
[4:16] Speaker 5: is the final part of the game plan. Saturday we
[4:19] Speaker 5: walk through when we play on Sunday, which is a
[4:21] Speaker 5: Friday in Australia and a Thursday in the U.S., so.
[4:24] Speaker 5: Don't ever make me do that again.
[4:27] Speaker 2: I am not going to make him do that again,
[4:28] Speaker 2: but that is hysterical.
[4:31] Speaker 1: And the Rams are going to be in the air
[4:34] Speaker 1: to Australia back and forth for more time than they're
[4:38] Speaker 1: going to be.
[4:38] Speaker 2: On the ground. Which is crazy.
[4:40] Speaker 4: And it's going to be a big test of preparation
[4:42] Speaker 4: and differences in strategy. How does one team being there
[4:45] Speaker 4: so long, another team being there according to usual schedule,
[4:48] Speaker 4: really play a difference in this game?
[4:50] Speaker 2: We're going to see.
[4:51] Speaker 4: Obviously, we're not going to have Aaron Donald on the field,
[4:52] Speaker 4: but we also are going to see whether George Kittle
[4:55] Speaker 4: gets closer. And ultimately, it's just going to be a battle.
[4:58] Speaker 4: It's going to be a battle of which strategy for
[5:01] Speaker 4: preparation works more. And maybe neither will in the ultimate.
[5:04] Speaker 2: Can we just say this, and this is the story here.
[5:07] Speaker 1: Sean McVay doesn't like playing international games, and he's going
[5:09] Speaker 1: to show up as late as he possibly can.
[5:11] Speaker 2: He's going to win, and then he's going to leave.
[5:12] Speaker 2: And that's how he wants to do it. Now, I'm
[5:13] Speaker 2: not saying he's going to.
[5:14] Speaker 1: Win this game, but he has 3-0 in international games,
[5:17] Speaker 1: and he generally blows the other team out. Last year,
[5:19] Speaker 1: they stayed on the East Coast the week before the game.
[5:21] Speaker 2: They played in Baltimore. They took a red-eye to London.
[5:24] Speaker 1: They got off the plane Saturday, had a workout, a nap,
[5:27] Speaker 1: and woke up and killed the Jaguars so badly the
[5:29] Speaker 1: game was over at halftime.
[5:31] Speaker 2: And that's what he's going to try to do this time.
[5:32] Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I give him a lot of credit
[5:34] Speaker 4: for sticking to his routine. If he knows that this
[5:36] Speaker 4: is what works, if he knows that his players can
[5:38] Speaker 4: adapt and this is what he believes is best for
[5:39] Speaker 4: his team, he's going to do it, which is what
[5:41] Speaker 4: he said this week.
[5:42] Speaker 2: It's what he's going to do.
[5:43] Speaker 1: What the Buccaneers are going to do is get Baker
[5:45] Speaker 1: Mayfield a new contract. At least we know he's not
[5:47] Speaker 1: going to go to the Steelers next year.
[5:49] Speaker 2: There's the good news. Baker Mayfield gets a three-year.
[5:52] Speaker 1: Extension, $ 165 million. Remember this after Baker had said that
[6:00] Speaker 1: he is not going to negotiate once training camp begins.
[6:05] Speaker 1: But he actually did. Did, and he got a deal done.
[6:08] Speaker 1: 55 seems like the sweet spot. It seemed like that
[6:10] Speaker 1: number the entire time.
[6:11] Speaker 4: He said he wanted to be in the 50 million club,
[6:13] Speaker 4: and he was disappointed to not get there before the
[6:14] Speaker 4: start of training camp. There's a number of quarterbacks that
[6:16] Speaker 4: are at that 55 million, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence among them,
[6:19] Speaker 4: and so now he enters that group.
[6:21] Speaker 2: It feels right for the most part.
[6:23] Speaker 4: Yes, he struggled down the stretch last year while playing
[6:25] Speaker 4: through injuries, but we know what his value is to
[6:27] Speaker 4: this Buccaneers team, so it's nice that they.
[6:29] Speaker 6: Got it done.
[6:29] Speaker 4: Did it break the rules of him setting a deadline
[6:31] Speaker 4: at the beginning of camp? Yes, but ultimately they get
[6:33] Speaker 4: it done. It's one less thing on the checklist. and
[6:35] Speaker 4: one less thing to worry about for the Buccaneers.
[6:37] Speaker 2: What do you think the real guarantee is? What the
[6:40] Speaker 2: guarantee is? What the real guarantee is.
[6:41] Speaker 6: Oh, goodness.
[6:42] Speaker 4: Well, I mean, I would imagine, let's see, 55 over 3.
[6:45] Speaker 4: I would say that of the 165, let's put it
[6:48] Speaker 4: near 100.
[6:49] Speaker 2: Yep, 100. 100 over 2, and we'll call it 165
[6:53] Speaker 2: over 3. Yeah, we'll see where we're at in year three.
[6:55] Speaker 1: This is the contract speculation game. It's something that we all,
[6:59] Speaker 1: behind the camera, play in this business.
[7:01] Speaker 2: Baker Mayfield. gets himself a brand new contract.
[7:05] Speaker 1: Also getting himself a new contract is one Christian Gonzalez.
[7:08] Speaker 1: He is going to play on Wednesday because he gets
[7:12] Speaker 1: his deal done. Four years and $ 135 million. It's $ 102.
[7:18] Speaker 2: Million with the guarantee.
[7:21] Speaker 1: Christian Gonzalez wouldn't give a definite answer earlier this week
[7:25] Speaker 1: when asked would he play without a new deal.
[7:26] Speaker 2: He's on the plane. He's going to play. All right,
[7:29] Speaker 2: let's get to Kansas City where the Chiefs have themselves
[7:31] Speaker 2: a left tackle problem.
[7:32] Speaker 1: More on that in a second. They don't have a
[7:33] Speaker 1: quarterback problem. Andy Reid says Patrick Mahomes will most likely play.
[7:39] Speaker 1: That means he is going to play week one on
[7:42] Speaker 1: Monday night.
[7:44] Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, he's shown everything there, Pete. He has
[7:48] Speaker 7: missed a day, as you know, and you guys have
[7:51] Speaker 7: seen him out there, so you know what it looks like,
[7:54] Speaker 7: him running around and doing his stuff. You know, other
[8:00] Speaker 7: than having a brace on his leg and everything, it
[8:02] Speaker 7: looks normal. I mean, he's running around the same way
[8:05] Speaker 7: he's always done and throwing the ball like he's always done.
[8:09] Speaker 1: All right, now let's get to the left tackle problem.
[8:14] Speaker 1: Josh Simmons is unlikely to play Monday. That means you're
[8:16] Speaker 1: going to have Jalen Moore playing right tackle. And you're
[8:20] Speaker 1: going to have Mahomes blindside protected likely by an undrafted
[8:23] Speaker 1: rookie free agent named Khalil Benson.
[8:26] Speaker 2: Nice story. Played in Indiana.
[8:28] Speaker 1: Won a national championship. The problem is Khalil Benson played
[8:31] Speaker 1: right tackle at Indiana. He has never really played left tackle.
[8:36] Speaker 2: So there's that.
[8:37] Speaker 1: Monday night as the Chiefs open up against the Denver Broncos.
[8:40] Speaker 1: As we continue on the NFL Report, what about Wednesday night?
[8:42] Speaker 1: We're opening on a Wednesday for the first time.
[8:45] Speaker 2: In a decade. Coming up next, that man.
[8:46] Speaker 1: Devin McCourty with his two cents or maybe a nickel
[8:52] Speaker 1: on the Patriots and the Seahawks in night number one.
[8:55] Speaker 1: You're watching the NFL Report. We have our first injury
[8:59] Speaker 1: report for week number one. Seahawks Patriots in the opener
[9:02] Speaker 1: on a Wednesday night. Nicky Minwari is questionable. Torrey Horton,
[9:06] Speaker 1: also questionable. Ty Okada is out at safety, so the
[9:09] Speaker 1: Seahawks banged up in their secondary. As for the Patriots,
[9:13] Speaker 1: Gravion Henderson, that's the big one, is out. So, Ramondre Stevenson, RB1,
[9:17] Speaker 1: maybe Corey Kiner, RB2.
[9:21] Speaker 2: Plan accordingly.
[9:22] Speaker 4: Here we go. D, D, D.
[9:24] Speaker 2: Defense. D, D, D.
[9:25] Speaker 4: Defense. D, D, D. Defense.
[9:27] Speaker 2: Coming in on three.
[9:27] Speaker 6: One, two, three.
[9:28] Speaker 2: Coming in.
[9:29] Speaker 8: If you don't be with us, I'm the double move king, bro.
[9:36] Speaker 6: Yeah, JV. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
[9:40] Speaker 9: Oh, oh, to the house.
[9:45] Speaker 8: To the house. To the house.
[9:50] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[9:53] Speaker 2: He is a three-time Super Bowl champion.
[9:55] Speaker 1: Now he's a fantastic broadcaster for not only NBC as
[9:58] Speaker 1: we get ready for the kickoff, opener tomorrow, but for
[10:01] Speaker 1: the Patriots in the preseason as well.
[10:03] Speaker 2: Devin McCourty, do you believe that that used to be you?
[10:08] Speaker 8: At first, the sound came on. I'm like, damn, that
[10:11] Speaker 8: sounds like me, but what are they going back? And
[10:13] Speaker 8: the funny thing is that last clip was Marcus Jones
[10:16] Speaker 8: getting an interception training camp his rookie year, and he's
[10:19] Speaker 8: still out there doing it, man. So really cool to
[10:22] Speaker 8: get a little flashback to the good old days.
[10:25] Speaker 2: He's still out there doing it.
[10:26] Speaker 1: You're still out there doing it as well as we
[10:28] Speaker 1: get ready for any given Wednesday to open.
[10:33] Speaker 2: How weird is that?
[10:35] Speaker 8: It's definitely weird. Even... thinking about telling people, like, hey, man,
[10:40] Speaker 8: got the opener. And they're like, oh, what was that, Sunday, Thursday?
[10:43] Speaker 8: I was like, no, we're tomorrow. We're on Wednesday night.
[10:46] Speaker 8: So anytime there's football, especially to start the season, I
[10:50] Speaker 8: don't care what day of the week, I think people
[10:51] Speaker 8: are excited, ready to go.
[10:53] Speaker 2: Absolutely.
[10:54] Speaker 1: And for those who don't remember, we have opened on
[10:56] Speaker 1: a Wednesday before in 2012.
[11:00] Speaker 2: Because President Obama.
[11:03] Speaker 1: Was accepting the Democratic National, at the DNC was accepting
[11:08] Speaker 1: the nomination. We moved the opener until Wednesday. So this
[11:11] Speaker 1: has happened before. This is not that odd. We're also
[11:15] Speaker 1: getting a Super Bowl rematch. And a weird thing has happened, Devin.
[11:19] Speaker 1: I think we are heading into a Super Bowl rematch
[11:21] Speaker 1: where both teams feel disrespected. You know from a Patriots
[11:26] Speaker 1: perspective that, All during the season and during the offseason,
[11:29] Speaker 1: people wanted to point to the schedule a year ago
[11:32] Speaker 1: and the Bo Nix injury as to the reason the
[11:34] Speaker 1: Patriots got there.
[11:35] Speaker 2: And then you have the Seahawks.
[11:37] Speaker 1: With all the attention on Aaron Donald and Miles Garrett
[11:40] Speaker 1: down the road, people forget that they are the defending champions.
[11:44] Speaker 2: Can you remember a setup like this?
[11:46] Speaker 8: No, I mean, especially you said it started off with
[11:50] Speaker 8: the Super Bowl rematch. And if we're being honest, it wasn't.
[11:54] Speaker 8: It wasn't like we all walked away from that game
[11:57] Speaker 8: in February and said we want to see it again.
[11:59] Speaker 8: But the changes that these teams have made the Patriots.
[12:03] Speaker 8: They went through and I think there's like 40 something
[12:05] Speaker 8: new guys on their team. They looked at that roster
[12:10] Speaker 8: and said, yes, we were in a Super Bowl, but
[12:12] Speaker 8: we still have to make a lot of changes. So
[12:13] Speaker 8: they feel like they are a better team. And then
[12:17] Speaker 8: anytime you get to defending champs feeling like people are
[12:20] Speaker 8: not respecting them, that's scary. And then this was unique
[12:23] Speaker 8: because I got to be in New England for the
[12:25] Speaker 8: preseason games. and then we all tuned in and watched
[12:27] Speaker 8: hard knocks. So this feels like a buildup of a
[12:30] Speaker 8: battle of two teams who were where everybody wanted to
[12:34] Speaker 8: be last year, but they feel like they need to
[12:36] Speaker 8: prove to everyone they are who they are this year
[12:39] Speaker 8: to start off the season.
[12:40] Speaker 1: All right, let's unpack the Patriots, because as you said,
[12:43] Speaker 1: you were there. You did an amazing job with your
[12:45] Speaker 1: brother Jason in the booth on the preseason local TV.
[12:49] Speaker 1: I love how they would have that two-shot of you, too,
[12:51] Speaker 1: and Because sometimes people said, like, well, who's talking? Then
[12:53] Speaker 1: we put the two of you on camera, and we
[12:55] Speaker 1: see the two.
[12:55] Speaker 2: Of you talking.
[12:56] Speaker 1: You guys did a great job. Depth, Mike Vrabel says,
[12:59] Speaker 1: is an issue. Mike Vrabel, two weeks ago, flat out said,
[13:02] Speaker 1: we have no depth. Some people read that as a
[13:06] Speaker 1: shot at the front office. Others just looked at it
[13:08] Speaker 1: and said, yeah, man, it's reality, like you just said.
[13:10] Speaker 1: Is this a better team than it was a year ago?
[13:14] Speaker 8: I think it's scary because it is. But when you
[13:18] Speaker 8: don't have depth, I think as a coach– you're kind
[13:21] Speaker 8: of scared every single day. And I think that's why
[13:24] Speaker 8: we didn't see any of those Patriots starters at all. Like,
[13:28] Speaker 8: they even had, you know, Elijah Ponder, who's a second-year player,
[13:31] Speaker 8: who they're looking to on the defensive line to have
[13:34] Speaker 8: a big year. He didn't play a snap in the
[13:37] Speaker 8: preseason because they just felt like we're one or two
[13:40] Speaker 8: injuries away from our team being drastically different. But Vrabel
[13:45] Speaker 8: said something to us that I thought was very unique.
[13:47] Speaker 8: He said the road to success is always under construction.
[13:50] Speaker 8: And he kept telling us this team is all about
[13:53] Speaker 8: continuing to build who they are, build how much better
[13:57] Speaker 8: they want to get, build their culture, build their identity.
[13:59] Speaker 8: So when you look at this team, that's what the
[14:02] Speaker 8: offseason looked like. Now the thing is, how can you
[14:05] Speaker 8: stay healthy? And then how can you take some of
[14:07] Speaker 8: those guys that are debt pieces and build so that
[14:10] Speaker 8: if they get called upon maybe midway through the season,
[14:13] Speaker 8: now they're actually ready to go.
[14:15] Speaker 2: One of those guys is A.J. Brown. Devin, let's not
[14:18] Speaker 2: sugarcoat it.
[14:19] Speaker 1: The Patriots' offense was dominated by the Seahawks' defense in
[14:23] Speaker 1: that Super Bowl.
[14:24] Speaker 2: How does A.J. change that tomorrow night?
[14:28] Speaker 8: For one, he was walking around that building smiling ear
[14:30] Speaker 8: to ear, you know, going up to him, talking to him.
[14:33] Speaker 8: The fit has been awesome. He's excited to be there.
[14:36] Speaker 8: And then, you know, even talking to some of the guys,
[14:39] Speaker 8: I think the cool thing is we're going to see A.J.
[14:42] Speaker 8: Brown in spots that I would say historically we haven't
[14:45] Speaker 8: always seen him. He's seen as an X receiver, always
[14:48] Speaker 8: on the outside. When you play in a Josh McDaniels offense,
[14:51] Speaker 8: they're going to move him around a little bit. They're
[14:52] Speaker 8: going to do different things to get him the ball.
[14:55] Speaker 8: And I think he's excited about that. And I think
[14:58] Speaker 8: what they love the most is they really like Romeo Dobbs.
[15:01] Speaker 8: They like Pop Douglas. They like some of those other
[15:04] Speaker 8: guys that they know having an A.J. Brown is going
[15:07] Speaker 8: to make everybody else's job easier. And they're going to
[15:10] Speaker 8: design things in a way to get people the ball easily.
[15:13] Speaker 8: and their favorable matchups are where they like it the most.
[15:16] Speaker 8: So it should be an exciting offense to watch.
[15:18] Speaker 1: That's interesting because when they did the joint practice, the
[15:21] Speaker 1: Patriots with the Eagles, all the viral videos was him
[15:24] Speaker 1: running nines, him just running straight downfield.
[15:26] Speaker 2: And traditionally it's A.J.
[15:28] Speaker 1: Brown going straight downfield or that slant playing bully ball
[15:31] Speaker 1: over the middle. He still has that club in his bag,
[15:35] Speaker 1: but you really think we're going to see him inside
[15:37] Speaker 1: a lot?
[15:39] Speaker 8: Not a lot, but I think, I always think back
[15:42] Speaker 8: to when Randy Moss got to New England and, you know,
[15:44] Speaker 8: I used to have conversations with Bill Belichick and teams
[15:48] Speaker 8: doubled Randy Moss every single play. They went too high safety.
[15:52] Speaker 8: And I remember being in training camp my rookie year
[15:55] Speaker 8: and they would line Randy Moss up and he would
[15:57] Speaker 8: be to a single side, but he'd be really close
[16:00] Speaker 8: to the tackle. And if someone would motion over and
[16:02] Speaker 8: he would end up in the slot and they kind
[16:04] Speaker 8: of disguised it and put him in the slot. And
[16:07] Speaker 8: then he was able to do some of the things
[16:09] Speaker 8: that was his strength, taking control of the middle of
[16:11] Speaker 8: the field, running deep. So I think A.J. Brown, yes,
[16:14] Speaker 8: he's going to be on the outside. He's going to
[16:15] Speaker 8: be running those skinny posts, those slants. But at different times,
[16:18] Speaker 8: they're going to put him at places on the field,
[16:21] Speaker 8: and I think they're going to disguise it, do things
[16:23] Speaker 8: a little different, and then he's going to end up
[16:25] Speaker 8: in a spot that's going to be similar for him,
[16:28] Speaker 8: but the defense is going to look at it and say, man,
[16:30] Speaker 8: he's actually in the slot this time. I think that's
[16:32] Speaker 8: how you keep guys happy. That's how you get your
[16:34] Speaker 8: best players the ball. where they can be dangerous. And
[16:37] Speaker 8: I think they're going to do that a little bit
[16:38] Speaker 8: with A.J.
[16:39] Speaker 4: Brown.
[16:39] Speaker 2: Interesting.
[16:40] Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the Seahawks here and kind
[16:42] Speaker 1: of doubling back to that Rams question. You heard the
[16:45] Speaker 1: hype last week when Aaron Donald came out of retirement.
[16:48] Speaker 2: Well-deserved, by the way. He's as good as we've ever seen.
[16:51] Speaker 1: But the Seahawks fans have been building this chip on
[16:55] Speaker 1: their shoulder.
[16:56] Speaker 2: For months and months and months now.
[16:59] Speaker 1: Devin, do you think the defending Super Bowl champion is
[17:02] Speaker 1: still the best team in the NFL?
[17:05] Speaker 8: Yeah, so someone knocks them off, but you got to remember,
[17:08] Speaker 8: the NFL, it's a different year every single year. And
[17:12] Speaker 8: the number one team from a year ago, you don't
[17:15] Speaker 8: automatically get to be the number one team. But when
[17:17] Speaker 8: there's no games being played and we're ready to crown
[17:20] Speaker 8: people because of paper, then to me, that doesn't really matter.
[17:24] Speaker 8: I think for the Seahawks, It's going out there and
[17:27] Speaker 8: doing it. And, you know, watching Mike McDonald throughout hard. Now,
[17:30] Speaker 8: that's what they are. That's who they believe. So when
[17:32] Speaker 8: they see, you know, everything the Rams are doing or
[17:35] Speaker 8: other teams on paper, I think it just builds into
[17:38] Speaker 8: who they are of. We don't care about that. We
[17:41] Speaker 8: care about going out there and performing. So they have
[17:44] Speaker 8: every right to feel disrespect. And there's no doubt in
[17:47] Speaker 8: my mind. that this team's ready to go. They're ready
[17:50] Speaker 8: to go and try to win that division again. Again,
[17:53] Speaker 8: everyone's excited about the Rams, and rightfully so. There's a
[17:55] Speaker 8: lot of great players over there, but this team, the
[17:58] Speaker 8: Seattle Seahawks have built, and the core guys that they
[18:01] Speaker 8: have there, they have the confidence, and they should have
[18:04] Speaker 8: the confidence that they can go and still win this division.
[18:08] Speaker 8: It's going to be one of the best things to follow.
[18:10] Speaker 8: These two teams play at the end of the year.
[18:13] Speaker 8: I think it's like week 15 and week 18 or something.
[18:16] Speaker 8: So we'll have to wait all season to get the matchup,
[18:19] Speaker 8: but then we'll get them a couple weeks apart. And
[18:21] Speaker 8: I think that will be the battle, not only for
[18:23] Speaker 8: that division, but that'll be the battle for the number
[18:25] Speaker 8: one seed in the NFC.
[18:27] Speaker 1: Devin McCourty, safe travels, sir. Can't wait to see you
[18:30] Speaker 1: in the kickoff opener coming up tomorrow.
[18:33] Speaker 8: Appreciate it, man.
[18:34] Speaker 2: Good to see you. Coming up on the NFL Report,
[18:37] Speaker 2: he's not number one. Where is Patrick Mahomes, however, in
[18:42] Speaker 2: Nick Shook's about-to-drop quarterback index? Nick will tell you. And
[18:46] Speaker 2: who is number one? Coming up. Hey, everybody.
[18:50] Speaker 1: Get 20% off an NFL Plus annual plan.
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[19:10] Speaker 1: Terms and conditions. do apply because of course they always
[19:15] Speaker 1: do NFL report Andrew Siciliano Nick Shook Nick by the
[19:18] Speaker 1: way tomorrow dropping on NFL.com his QB index he ranks
[19:22] Speaker 1: them all one to 32 he's got Josh Allen number
[19:25] Speaker 1: one and Stafford number two and Mahomes number three let's
[19:28] Speaker 1: skip all the way down where's Lamar Jackson oh boy
[19:33] Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson's number eight here's Lamar on the podium I.
[19:37] Speaker 9: Believe we have a lot in store you know uh
[19:39] Speaker 9: new season for like a new breath of fresh air
[19:43] Speaker 9: I feel like my guys just ready to get out
[19:44] Speaker 9: there and just start flying.
[19:46] Speaker 2: What excites you about this offense that maybe hasn't in
[19:49] Speaker 2: the past?
[19:51] Speaker 9: From what I see, it's a lot of moving parts.
[19:54] Speaker 9: We can put guys in different positions to win. I
[19:56] Speaker 9: feel like the success rate should be high. That's what
[20:00] Speaker 9: I'm expecting, but we'll see.
[20:02] Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson said he loves Declan Doyle's new offense. And
[20:06] Speaker 1: potentially here, a guy that's won a couple of the MVPs,
[20:09] Speaker 1: Todd Munkin has now moved on to Cleveland. Lamar could
[20:13] Speaker 1: take this offense to potentially another level. Tell me why
[20:16] Speaker 1: you like him as number eight.
[20:17] Speaker 4: We already know what he brings to the table as
[20:19] Speaker 4: a dual threat quarterback. What he's really become is more
[20:21] Speaker 4: of a passing guy in the last few years. But
[20:24] Speaker 4: what he's struggled with is to stay healthy. And so
[20:26] Speaker 4: the big question for him that he has to answer is,
[20:28] Speaker 4: can you play a full season? Then, how do you
[20:31] Speaker 4: adapt to Declan Doyle's offense? Comes from the Ben Johnson tree,
[20:34] Speaker 4: so it makes you start to think, okay, well, maybe
[20:36] Speaker 4: there's pre-snap motion. There's all sorts of moving parts, all
[20:39] Speaker 4: sorts of misdirection that then can free up Lamar Jackson.
[20:42] Speaker 4: We also cannot forget the fact that Derrick Henry is
[20:44] Speaker 4: in this backfield and that they have plenty of weapons
[20:46] Speaker 4: around him. So he starts at eight because I am
[20:48] Speaker 4: a little bit concerned about how he's going to adjust
[20:51] Speaker 4: to the offense, just because we haven't seen it at
[20:53] Speaker 4: the start of the season. But I think he's an
[20:54] Speaker 4: easy candidate to climb very quickly.
[20:56] Speaker 1: All right, so Lamar is eight. I want to double
[20:59] Speaker 1: back to Patrick Mahomes if we could here. Let's put
[21:02] Speaker 1: a button on that because we teased it. You have Mahomes,
[21:04] Speaker 1: number three, coming off an injury.
[21:07] Speaker 2: Like when Rosenthal was on last week, he picked the
[21:09] Speaker 2: Chiefs to win. I'm like, you're picking a team with
[21:12] Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes. Like, big deal. Well done out of you.
[21:15] Speaker 2: Mahomes is still, though, in the top five, I guess,
[21:17] Speaker 2: is the point I'm getting.
[21:17] Speaker 4: Yes, and this is really just a demonstration of my
[21:19] Speaker 4: immense respect for Patrick Mahomes and what he's done over
[21:21] Speaker 4: the course of his career.
[21:22] Speaker 2: It hasn't been the same over the last few years.
[21:25] Speaker 2: It's been more of.
[21:26] Speaker 4: Well, instead of throwing the ball deep downfield to Tyreek
[21:28] Speaker 4: Hill and other explosive players, it's finding ways to move
[21:31] Speaker 4: the chains. And a lot of that comes down to
[21:33] Speaker 4: his mobility, his ability to extend plays. And that's the
[21:36] Speaker 4: really big question mark going into this season because he's
[21:38] Speaker 4: coming off of the ACL. Now, as we heard Andy
[21:40] Speaker 4: Reid say earlier, he's moving around like normal, and the
[21:42] Speaker 4: beat reporters have all seen it, and they understand that
[21:44] Speaker 4: that's what's coming. But they've played a lot of this
[21:46] Speaker 4: very close to the vest. And so we haven't really,
[21:49] Speaker 4: from a general perspective, seen that. exactly who he can be.
[21:52] Speaker 4: But he starts here because of what he's done over
[21:54] Speaker 4: the course of his career, how much I believe in him,
[21:57] Speaker 4: and I think that he'll be able to get back
[21:59] Speaker 4: to what he was before.
[22:00] Speaker 2: For the record, you're number 32 quarterback? Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson.
[22:04] Speaker 8: Yes.
[22:05] Speaker 2: The Nick Schuch.
[22:07] Speaker 1: Quarterback Index dropping tomorrow on NFL.com.
[22:10] Speaker 2: Go read it. Ladies and gentlemen, we ask you kindly.
[22:14] Speaker 2: Thank you, Nick.
[22:15] Speaker 1: Let's get some other news from around the NFL. Let's
[22:17] Speaker 1: do some quick hits before we speak. And the quarterbacks,
[22:19] Speaker 1: Fernando Mendoza is QB2 in Vegas. That is official now because, remember,
[22:24] Speaker 1: Clint Kubiak had been somewhat coy as to who would
[22:27] Speaker 1: back up Kirk Cousins. The depth chart is out. It's
[22:31] Speaker 1: Mendoza 2. And then number three is Aiden O'Connell. Jerry,
[22:36] Speaker 1: the owner of the Cowboys, did his Tuesday radio spot today.
[22:39] Speaker 1: They freed up some cap space recently, roughly $ 19 million,
[22:43] Speaker 1: by redoing some deals. Why, Jerry, would you do that?
[22:47] Speaker 6: We could use it for this year's team. But that
[22:51] Speaker 6: thing is a fungible, the cap's fungible, and it laps
[22:56] Speaker 6: over into multi-years, at least two, conceivably three or four,
[23:01] Speaker 6: on parts of any money you make available. Now, I
[23:04] Speaker 6: know that's hard to put your finger on, but it
[23:07] Speaker 6: is hard to put your finger on. But that does
[23:10] Speaker 6: show that we have really viable, serious room financially to
[23:16] Speaker 6: make a trade if we wanted to right now.
[23:19] Speaker 1: Jerry Jones on his Tuesday radio spot. Meantime in New York,
[23:23] Speaker 1: Aaron Glenn says Brees Hall, who's been out for a
[23:25] Speaker 1: little bit with a groin injury, is trending towards playing Sunday.
[23:29] Speaker 1: If he does not go, it will be Braylon Allen
[23:32] Speaker 1: as running back one in the Robert Sala grudge match.
[23:37] Speaker 1: Is Jeremiah Love RB1 in Arizona? Mike LaFleur says he
[23:42] Speaker 1: feels good. about the third overall pick playing Sunday against
[23:46] Speaker 1: the Chargers. However, the Cardinals depth chart, if you care
[23:49] Speaker 1: about depth charts, lists both Love and Tyler Algier as co-RB1s.
[23:56] Speaker 2: That's going to do it for us. This is the
[23:57] Speaker 2: NFL Report. We're here every night, Monday through Friday at
[24:00] Speaker 2: 7 p.m. Eastern time. When we speak tomorrow, it'll be
[24:04] Speaker 2: a pregame, friends, one day away from football.

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